This Friday sequence features a Cardinal with an amazing facial abnormality in the process of feeding it’s young. These photos were shot through the double pane window in my front door so they are not as sharp as I would prefer, but they certainly enable a view of something I have never before seen, and I’m not talking about feeding babies. Cardinals are permanent residents here.

The lead photo is the first of this five shot sequence. You will surely notice the abnormality of the adult Cardinal which appears to be looking for approval to feed the youngster. Careful these pics don’t make you go cross-eyed!

This happened right outside my front door in our bird feeder area. Most of my birding these days is spent up at the pond and primarily targets Swallows. However, there are a lot of other things that use our small pond besides Swallows. While waiting for the Swallows to do their magic so I can try to do mine I see other subjects who attempt to make me lose my focus on Swallows! When that happens I get a pic but usually miss out on chances for the real reason I’m there.

Dragonflies are a continuous distraction. They fly about like Swallows do, except on a smaller scale. When your fast twitch is tuned to Swallows the darting of a dragonfly into your field of vision can drive you nuts.

Someone else was noticing the dragonflies too. My first ever sighting of a Green Heron did more than just notice. It was hunting those little hunters! Predator became prey. 

Watching the action was this frog of significant size who was perched on the pond dam. 

Much higher in the sky I noticed another appearance of a Red Tail hawk. I also saw it about a week ago and was elated as our hawks vacated the area for the first time ever that I know of. It is wonderful to see they are beginning to return. 

That’s it for my part of this Friday Sequence. I’d love to hear, and if possible see, what abnormalities you have encountered in the natural world.